Imagine an action in your past going wrong and you given a chance to change it! This little element of fiction can probably consume your imagination! And somebody rightly stated what you are today is somewhere a result of your past. Action Replayy subtly portrays this reality amidst its amusing humor and an eye-pleasing colorful 70’s background.
Kishen(Akshay Kumar) and Mala(Aishwarya Rai) are unhappily married. Their son, Bunty(Aditya Roy Kapoor) , is unwilling to get married for the same reason. His girlfriend’s grandfather has an invention that can take you back in time. The son decides to go back in time and set things right once and for all.
The film has it all: conflict, drama, humor, dance and most importantly, color! The direction and cinematography of the movie is simply bewitching and fascinating. Director, producer, Vipul Shah lets not an iota of his fictitious element look unconvincing. He manages to choose the right colors all the time everywhere! The apt usage of colors in the song, Chann Ke Mohalla and the styling of the chartbuster track, Zor Ka Jhatka turn out to be a must watch on the big screen.
The retro look of the movie is original and striking.The film seems home to boundless creativity and innovation. Look how they make the film’s starting credit titles so novel!But sadly the beginning part where Kishen is shown to be sissy seems a bit overdone as he begins to look over-extra ugly.But then, he carries off the bechaara look pretty well.
Talking of performances, Aishwarya is just flawless for she gets into the perfect skin of her character, Mala. Kishen or Akhay Kumar is just as ever. Try to think of a film where he wasn’t convincing enough. You won’t get an answer or maybe you would have to think for too long! Not to forget the mention of his "Awaaz.. neeche" for its just too stylishly catchy! Newcomer Aditya Roy Kapoor does his job impressively. And so do others like Ompuri, Kirron Kher, Ranvijay, Rajpal Yadav and Neha Dhupia.
Music by Pritam is good enough and some of the tracks are extremely consuming and passionate. The film gets a little typically filmy in the later half and perhaps the reality singing contest could have been done away with as our present GenX audience deprecate watching the typical Hindi-film kind melodrama!
Overall, the film has a good treatment, convincing ending and a heart-pleasing message! Go to watch how the past is linked to the present! That is Action Replayy!
RATING- 3 stars
Monday, November 8, 2010
Friday, October 29, 2010
Jhoota Hi Sahi
Whoops! Is creativity finding itself estranged? Why are so many Bollywood movies merely getting based upon concepts and situations that have been seen before and are not entirely novel? Bollywood is trying the same old ‘masala’ and the only difference seems to be in the star casts who are getting permuted and combined to grant something ‘new’ to a movie. Our films seem to be growing in quantity not quality.
Lets get back to Jhoota Hi Sahi! The film has John Abraham in the lead who portrays a stammering geek. And he’s made stammering no funny anymore! The heroine of the film as well as the writer, Pakhi, seems to have given a fine performance as a beginner. There is nothing very special about her, one may actually wonder why the director needed to cast his wife for the role. Performances of other actors are pretty fine. MTV Roadies fame, Raghu does his job very impressively. However, cameo by R Madhavan isn't very appealing moreso, as his character is totally devoid of spark.
John(Siddharth) one night begins to receive calls from different suicidal s who want a reason to live.This is so as his number by mistake gets printed on a help-line. One of the caller's is Pakhi(Mishka) who becomes a phone friend of this unknown faced voice and unknowingly meets this phone friend at the book shop one day. John gets to know that it is the same girl and urges her to get closer to Siddharth on phone. The twist of the story is an old one. The girl’s ex-boyfriend cant see her with John now. And the girl comes to know that her phone friend and real life friend are the same.
Comedy of the movie can be called good, but then it appears deliberate at places. There is hardly any depth in any character of the film. Even its storyline which is fresh in the beginning turns disappointingly dull towards the later half. The climax is as dramatic and as filmy as anything could get to be! Boring at places, the film suffers from unoriginality and a bad actor in its male lead.
Even AR Rahman's music fails to become a treat. Infact,the tune of one of the song's ” Cry cry,karte hai kaiko” can ludicrously remind of a nursery rhyme! Abbas Tyrewala's direction is not enchanting at all! Now, he had created magic out of a simple story in Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na. After that, this definitely gets disappointing.
Overall, watch it for its sense of humor and Raghu, if you are fond of good actors.
RATING-**1/2
Lets get back to Jhoota Hi Sahi! The film has John Abraham in the lead who portrays a stammering geek. And he’s made stammering no funny anymore! The heroine of the film as well as the writer, Pakhi, seems to have given a fine performance as a beginner. There is nothing very special about her, one may actually wonder why the director needed to cast his wife for the role. Performances of other actors are pretty fine. MTV Roadies fame, Raghu does his job very impressively. However, cameo by R Madhavan isn't very appealing moreso, as his character is totally devoid of spark.
John(Siddharth) one night begins to receive calls from different suicidal s who want a reason to live.This is so as his number by mistake gets printed on a help-line. One of the caller's is Pakhi(Mishka) who becomes a phone friend of this unknown faced voice and unknowingly meets this phone friend at the book shop one day. John gets to know that it is the same girl and urges her to get closer to Siddharth on phone. The twist of the story is an old one. The girl’s ex-boyfriend cant see her with John now. And the girl comes to know that her phone friend and real life friend are the same.
Comedy of the movie can be called good, but then it appears deliberate at places. There is hardly any depth in any character of the film. Even its storyline which is fresh in the beginning turns disappointingly dull towards the later half. The climax is as dramatic and as filmy as anything could get to be! Boring at places, the film suffers from unoriginality and a bad actor in its male lead.
Even AR Rahman's music fails to become a treat. Infact,the tune of one of the song's ” Cry cry,karte hai kaiko” can ludicrously remind of a nursery rhyme! Abbas Tyrewala's direction is not enchanting at all! Now, he had created magic out of a simple story in Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na. After that, this definitely gets disappointing.
Overall, watch it for its sense of humor and Raghu, if you are fond of good actors.
RATING-**1/2
Sunday, September 5, 2010
We Are Family
Where’ the suspense? Where’s the thrill? What’s the X-factor? Predictably annoying, childishly stereotyped! That is what the film is! It’s hardly got an element that you mustn’t have seen on screen before. More so, the title of the film actually plucks out any possibility of suspense from the film i.e., you already know Kareena too will ultimately become part of the family! Add to that, this official adaptation of Stepmom can serve as a bad dose of predictability specially to those who have seen the latter. The movie has just one powerful tool however-emotions! It is determined to wet your cheeks for sure! And this emotional factor to an extent clicks. More so as the director,Siddharth Malhotra, seems to have put his heart and soul into this one.
Casting of good actors was necessary as every actor had a substantial element to portray. Kajol was splendid as usual. Arjun is a rock star. He’s got a striking flamboyance, which is sufficient, he need not act! Coming to Kareena, she just manages to not click these days. Though she is good in some scenes, there are plenty others where she is found busy imitating herself and unfocussed! The kids are good. Talking of music, it isn’t very splendid and not bad either. But the only song that actually rocked was- Let’s Rock! Also,the director and the makers of the film seem to have observed a great sense of power and inspiration in the not very novel song, Reham-o-Karam for they stupefy you by playing that bit of line at irregular intervals as though some great incident just took place! If someone added color to the movie, it was Kajol, she is a legend that her contemporary actresses must bow down to, and follow!
One good discovery the movie makes is the chemistry between Arjun and Kareena. They make an awesome couple. But unfortunately, there is hardly any romance and Kareena is seen more with Kajol than Arjun in the second half! Arjun Rampal is sadly abandoned towards the end, as the women take lead.
Above all, it is typically the great Indian melodrama, providing a huge, huge scope for tears, so do watch it if you want to cry and need a reason to do so! This one qualifies as a great reason, for sure!
RATING- **1/2
Casting of good actors was necessary as every actor had a substantial element to portray. Kajol was splendid as usual. Arjun is a rock star. He’s got a striking flamboyance, which is sufficient, he need not act! Coming to Kareena, she just manages to not click these days. Though she is good in some scenes, there are plenty others where she is found busy imitating herself and unfocussed! The kids are good. Talking of music, it isn’t very splendid and not bad either. But the only song that actually rocked was- Let’s Rock! Also,the director and the makers of the film seem to have observed a great sense of power and inspiration in the not very novel song, Reham-o-Karam for they stupefy you by playing that bit of line at irregular intervals as though some great incident just took place! If someone added color to the movie, it was Kajol, she is a legend that her contemporary actresses must bow down to, and follow!
One good discovery the movie makes is the chemistry between Arjun and Kareena. They make an awesome couple. But unfortunately, there is hardly any romance and Kareena is seen more with Kajol than Arjun in the second half! Arjun Rampal is sadly abandoned towards the end, as the women take lead.
Above all, it is typically the great Indian melodrama, providing a huge, huge scope for tears, so do watch it if you want to cry and need a reason to do so! This one qualifies as a great reason, for sure!
RATING- **1/2
Friday, June 11, 2010
RAAJNEETI
Sarkar had done it and done it with much more dexterity. It did not have to adjunct to itself half a dozen of famed actors to look convincing. There was a Sarkar, one could understand why the public favored Sarkar, aptly it showed how Sarkar found enemies and in the end, the murders were justified. Now politics is definitely one word that can provide justification to anything unjust. However, Mr. Jha definitely needs to clarify as to what was the necessity of such aggravated vandalism only to depict the greedy and vicious nature of almost all his characters. Nevertheless, unlike Sarkar, some basic details remained untold!
When a movie has a title as such, a luminary star cast, and a director who has himself had an experience of the real Raajneeti, all you expect is- Hard core politics. Unfortunately, however, Raajneeti runs on some of Bollywoods most hit storyline’s with the schemes of the protagonists not being too novel. Probably, politics being too simple hurts! It, not being eclectic is what that gets indigestible.
The film is all about the hostility that arises in one political family. One can experience a saga of animosity that only gets vehement with time. Now the ‘battle’ has Arjun Rampal & Ranbir Kapoor on one side and Manoj Bajpayee & Ajay Devgn on the other. Blood is not thicker than water for them for they could do anything for power. Well, no one expected staunches for politicians, so this is no surprise. The surprise is, however, how restricted the politics in Raajneeti is. Far from giving us a bird’s eye view, the movie is busy revolving around the Pratap family!
With actors as such, performances were bound to be terrific. And, indeed they were. However, had the storyline and characterization been focused more, the film too could have turned terrific!
Talking of the characters, Manoj Bajpayee is seen playing the arrogant Veerendra Pratap and he is as impressive as ever. But discredits to the writers for having failed to create the character well for he is hardly seen playing politics and gets too dependent upon the not very useful, Ajay Devgn! Worse, he is not seen giving any “karara jawab” to anyone, much against his claims to do so!
Nana Patekar well plays an astute character bearing a nearly irritating smile with him all the time. Thankfully, this man has some political acumen and easily identifies to a politician.
Ajay Devgan starts well but his character gradually seems to fade and languish. Why? What happened all of a sudden? The writers simply abduct spark and charm out of Sooraj. Left a victim to Nana Patekar’s little politics, this man suddenly refuses to understand the nature of politics despite having the actual heir of the Rashravadi party, Veerendra Pratap to his side. He appears to be burning from within and angry for God-knows what reason.
Katrina plays a typical sacrificing woman and manages to deliver a fine performance. Her character is simple and thanks to that, understandable.
Ranbir Kapoor very well plays the mysteriously taciturn, callous Samar Pratap. He is into the role completely and you could hate him for that! He is extremely shrewd and the director-writer duo seems to have done injustice to the others by making Samar Pratap a one complete package. Possibly, that is why Devgn was lamenting!
Now, acting wise, this man was the best (perhaps besides Manoj Bajpayee) - Arjun Rampal enthralls you with a stupendous performance (this is called ACTING!). He makes you admire Prithvi Pratap for being rampant! Again, credits off the duo for this though amazing yet implausible creation! Prithvi is simply too hot headed to even stand in the elections, far from being a Chief Minister!
Getting back to the film, if nothing else, it could have at least had a better sense of humor! They had Nana Patekar after all! And who does not know that Indian politics can provide great scope to comedy! Direction wise, it was no treat. Jha also failed to create a full-fledged two-sided battle. The speeches did no good either. Apart from one or two catchy lines, the speeches hardly provided content for us to devour or savor nor were they used to instigate the mob in an astute manner. Shakespeare would perhaps laugh watching the speeches go in vain in that fashion! Talking of what was good, the subtle bond of love shared by Prithvi and Samar was worth watching. Also, the songs of the film are fantastic, however, one would better relish them on an audio.
Overall, Raajneeti is just another fictitious Bollywood film suffering a weak story line. Anguish, hatred and bloodshed cannot be a treat to watch after all!
RATING- **1/2
When a movie has a title as such, a luminary star cast, and a director who has himself had an experience of the real Raajneeti, all you expect is- Hard core politics. Unfortunately, however, Raajneeti runs on some of Bollywoods most hit storyline’s with the schemes of the protagonists not being too novel. Probably, politics being too simple hurts! It, not being eclectic is what that gets indigestible.
The film is all about the hostility that arises in one political family. One can experience a saga of animosity that only gets vehement with time. Now the ‘battle’ has Arjun Rampal & Ranbir Kapoor on one side and Manoj Bajpayee & Ajay Devgn on the other. Blood is not thicker than water for them for they could do anything for power. Well, no one expected staunches for politicians, so this is no surprise. The surprise is, however, how restricted the politics in Raajneeti is. Far from giving us a bird’s eye view, the movie is busy revolving around the Pratap family!
With actors as such, performances were bound to be terrific. And, indeed they were. However, had the storyline and characterization been focused more, the film too could have turned terrific!
Talking of the characters, Manoj Bajpayee is seen playing the arrogant Veerendra Pratap and he is as impressive as ever. But discredits to the writers for having failed to create the character well for he is hardly seen playing politics and gets too dependent upon the not very useful, Ajay Devgn! Worse, he is not seen giving any “karara jawab” to anyone, much against his claims to do so!
Nana Patekar well plays an astute character bearing a nearly irritating smile with him all the time. Thankfully, this man has some political acumen and easily identifies to a politician.
Ajay Devgan starts well but his character gradually seems to fade and languish. Why? What happened all of a sudden? The writers simply abduct spark and charm out of Sooraj. Left a victim to Nana Patekar’s little politics, this man suddenly refuses to understand the nature of politics despite having the actual heir of the Rashravadi party, Veerendra Pratap to his side. He appears to be burning from within and angry for God-knows what reason.
Katrina plays a typical sacrificing woman and manages to deliver a fine performance. Her character is simple and thanks to that, understandable.
Ranbir Kapoor very well plays the mysteriously taciturn, callous Samar Pratap. He is into the role completely and you could hate him for that! He is extremely shrewd and the director-writer duo seems to have done injustice to the others by making Samar Pratap a one complete package. Possibly, that is why Devgn was lamenting!
Now, acting wise, this man was the best (perhaps besides Manoj Bajpayee) - Arjun Rampal enthralls you with a stupendous performance (this is called ACTING!). He makes you admire Prithvi Pratap for being rampant! Again, credits off the duo for this though amazing yet implausible creation! Prithvi is simply too hot headed to even stand in the elections, far from being a Chief Minister!
Getting back to the film, if nothing else, it could have at least had a better sense of humor! They had Nana Patekar after all! And who does not know that Indian politics can provide great scope to comedy! Direction wise, it was no treat. Jha also failed to create a full-fledged two-sided battle. The speeches did no good either. Apart from one or two catchy lines, the speeches hardly provided content for us to devour or savor nor were they used to instigate the mob in an astute manner. Shakespeare would perhaps laugh watching the speeches go in vain in that fashion! Talking of what was good, the subtle bond of love shared by Prithvi and Samar was worth watching. Also, the songs of the film are fantastic, however, one would better relish them on an audio.
Overall, Raajneeti is just another fictitious Bollywood film suffering a weak story line. Anguish, hatred and bloodshed cannot be a treat to watch after all!
RATING- **1/2
Thursday, May 6, 2010
HOUSEFULL
The house was indeed full but one might as well wonder the connection between the film and its title! Any way, the title is good and so is the movie. Entertaining is what should modestly describe the film. Better not try to make out much of it or apply your brains too much…it’s a Nadiadwala film- cheesy, cheery with brazen humor. The plot subtly brought back memories of Anees Bazmee’s No Entry! Housefull is enlivening and all they do is solely to make you laugh. Watch bad luck befall upon Akshay Kumar or watch the ludicrous, publicity craving hotel owner Chunkey Pandey crack PJ’s or watch Boman Irani retrieve the “Kanta Ben” act yet again. They seem to invisibly spray a laughter gas all around you!
The makers should definitely heave a sigh of relief; they succeed in creating a nice piece of comedy that can be remembered as a successor of the huge comic flick, No Entry. Though there are scenes where there is inferior and deliberate humor, there are others that could tickle your bone even after the film is over!
Coming to the performances, sadly, female performances weren’t much off a treat. Lara does not seem to be genuine and Deepika still shows signs of an amateur. Both seem pretentious and factitious. However, they lend their full support to the comic timing and there are scenes where they get their expressions right. Jiah Khan plays a trivial role of an eye-candy. Male performances were far better with Riteish Deshmukh possessing a prior experience to this kind of role and Akshay being convincing as ever. Stealing the show however was Arjun Rampal with his fiery, gutsy and sagacious performance as an intimidating investigative officer. He quite makes up for a film that has less of a story but more of situations arousing humor.
Music is definitely catchy and songs add up to the face value of the film. Talking of songs, one just can’t help but give a special mention to the choreography of the song-“Papa Jag Jayega”. Well, that step is surely going to be remembered for long! More so, with “Pappa” doing it, as he does it the best!
The climax of the film is when you expect a big blast; however, Sajid Khan ends it modestly. He does so and leaves behind a little message- No one’s a loser! Now, that should be a point noted. Above all, it’s a pleasant entertainer. And for those PJ’s, more than a one time watch! :)
RATING- ***
The makers should definitely heave a sigh of relief; they succeed in creating a nice piece of comedy that can be remembered as a successor of the huge comic flick, No Entry. Though there are scenes where there is inferior and deliberate humor, there are others that could tickle your bone even after the film is over!
Coming to the performances, sadly, female performances weren’t much off a treat. Lara does not seem to be genuine and Deepika still shows signs of an amateur. Both seem pretentious and factitious. However, they lend their full support to the comic timing and there are scenes where they get their expressions right. Jiah Khan plays a trivial role of an eye-candy. Male performances were far better with Riteish Deshmukh possessing a prior experience to this kind of role and Akshay being convincing as ever. Stealing the show however was Arjun Rampal with his fiery, gutsy and sagacious performance as an intimidating investigative officer. He quite makes up for a film that has less of a story but more of situations arousing humor.
Music is definitely catchy and songs add up to the face value of the film. Talking of songs, one just can’t help but give a special mention to the choreography of the song-“Papa Jag Jayega”. Well, that step is surely going to be remembered for long! More so, with “Pappa” doing it, as he does it the best!
The climax of the film is when you expect a big blast; however, Sajid Khan ends it modestly. He does so and leaves behind a little message- No one’s a loser! Now, that should be a point noted. Above all, it’s a pleasant entertainer. And for those PJ’s, more than a one time watch! :)
RATING- ***
Monday, March 1, 2010
KAMINEY
There could not have been a better title for the film, and amongst all the criticism the film has 'earned' for it’s unmannerly title, the film proves that in short it’s all about Kaminey’s!
Right from the beginning till end, it’s got an amazing breath taking pace. It’s intriguing and you get lost in its adroitly planned jugglery. The juggler we talk of here is Vishal Bharadwaj who escalates the story in such a manner that you are spell bound with its quick paced ness. Carefully watched, the film has a great sense of humor. Watch Guddu stammer or watch Charlie convert his s’s to f’s, they are hilarious enough to tickle a bone. Talk of humor and the rest of the ‘Kaminey’s’ are not to be left behind. They too have their distinctive style of humor that comes to them instinctively.
Talk of acting, and they are all masters. From Shahid to Priyanka to all the other ‘Kaminey’s’ to each and every face before the camera does the job impressively. More praise to Vishal Bharadwaj for making Shahid act! Priyanka beautifully plays the character of an intrepid woman having a thug as her brother. She is deglamourized but her acting is far too impressive for you to focus on other paltry stuff such as her clothes or make up. This is undoubtedly Shahid’s best performance ever. He swiftly and with agility plays both the characters- Guddu and Charlie who are quite opposite to each other.
Like another VB film, this one too has great background music apart from its worldwide hit soundtracks. Unmistakably, the best scene of the film is towards its climax when Charlie opens the guitar box to lead its unwholesome contents into the fire. Now, are you looking for a message? Knowingly or unknowingly every film, carries a message to the audience. This film has one too only that several things taking place simultaneously obscure its simple little message. It’s the victory of good over evil. The guitar reaches its final fate. The gangster’s are caught by the police. They fail to bribe the police. Charlie turns compassionate towards the good, Guddu. And they live happily ever after.
All in all, the film is engrossing, baffling and subtly touching! And if you haven’t got it the first time, well… WATCH IT AGAIN!
RATING - ***
Right from the beginning till end, it’s got an amazing breath taking pace. It’s intriguing and you get lost in its adroitly planned jugglery. The juggler we talk of here is Vishal Bharadwaj who escalates the story in such a manner that you are spell bound with its quick paced ness. Carefully watched, the film has a great sense of humor. Watch Guddu stammer or watch Charlie convert his s’s to f’s, they are hilarious enough to tickle a bone. Talk of humor and the rest of the ‘Kaminey’s’ are not to be left behind. They too have their distinctive style of humor that comes to them instinctively.
Talk of acting, and they are all masters. From Shahid to Priyanka to all the other ‘Kaminey’s’ to each and every face before the camera does the job impressively. More praise to Vishal Bharadwaj for making Shahid act! Priyanka beautifully plays the character of an intrepid woman having a thug as her brother. She is deglamourized but her acting is far too impressive for you to focus on other paltry stuff such as her clothes or make up. This is undoubtedly Shahid’s best performance ever. He swiftly and with agility plays both the characters- Guddu and Charlie who are quite opposite to each other.
Like another VB film, this one too has great background music apart from its worldwide hit soundtracks. Unmistakably, the best scene of the film is towards its climax when Charlie opens the guitar box to lead its unwholesome contents into the fire. Now, are you looking for a message? Knowingly or unknowingly every film, carries a message to the audience. This film has one too only that several things taking place simultaneously obscure its simple little message. It’s the victory of good over evil. The guitar reaches its final fate. The gangster’s are caught by the police. They fail to bribe the police. Charlie turns compassionate towards the good, Guddu. And they live happily ever after.
All in all, the film is engrossing, baffling and subtly touching! And if you haven’t got it the first time, well… WATCH IT AGAIN!
RATING - ***
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